When it feels like the world is going to hell in a handbasket, where do you find inner peace?

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To Dr Shannon Foster it’s known as the mangrove cathedral. Hidden in plain sight at Sydney Olympic Park, the space under the tree canopy is more than a place of beauty; it’s a natural sanctuary offering a chance to re-centre, reflect – and connect with Country.

“Mangroves have these tall overarching branches that weave into each other and create a big canopy that creates what I can only describe as the perfect human habitat,” Foster says. “It doesn’t matter what is going on outside – it can be windy, hot, dry, humid or whatever, and this makes its own little microclimate. It is cool, it is calm, it is peaceful.”

Dr Shannon Foster says the “mangrove cathedral” at Sydney Olympic Park is more than an oasis of calm, it’s a place to re-centre and reflect.

In the troubled times we live in, the search for places where peace resides has gained greater importance. While ‘No religion’ was the second most common response after ‘Christianity’ in the 2021 census, for many the desire remains to connect with something greater, whether that’s identified as god, the universe or some unnamed energy source. And that is often best facilitated in environments, natural and human-made, that promote opportunities for reflection.

More than somewhere to switch off from the world and restore balance, these places provide an opportunity to connect with something deeper, in a spiritual sense.

As a D’harawal Saltwater Knowledge Keeper, Foster says such environments hold special power that goes beyond providing a place of calm and quiet.

“Some of these trees have been here since Bennelong walked through,” she says. “You get that sense of reverence and being part of something bigger than yourself and being reminded, in some regards, of that beautiful duality of how small and insignificant you are but how incredibly wondrous and enormous you are within this idea of this precious thing called life.

“It’s an incredible, incredible space.”

Shaykh Ahmed Abdo, chairman of the NSW Council of Imams, says making that connection to the wonders of the universe has been practised for millennia.

“If we compare modern times to ancient times, where people of the past would begin to scan the night sky and paint various pictures, the ancient Greeks and the Arabs gave names to [what they saw] in the sky and they became fixed points of reference,” he says.

However, he says, over time our points of reference have shifted.

“Now the last thing many people do before retiring at night is stare at the blue light from their phone,” he says. “That is having a phenomenal impact on our spiritual wellbeing.”

So where do we find lasting peace? And where can we go to replenish the spiritual well?

Author and host of ABC’s Compass program Indira Naidoo says the need for such places is innate in us as humans.

“It’s no accident that religions created these spaces [like churches, temples and mosques] because they understand we needed these places for quiet, calm reflection,” she says.

Naidoo wrote about how she has drawn comfort from nature following the death of her sister, Manika, who died during the Melbourne lockdowns in 2020. In The Space Between the Stars she chronicled her struggles with overwhelming grief, and the respite she found in her “sister tree”, a Moreton Bay fig that she kept returning to because, she says, it allowed her to “be”. She says trees are a natural place for healing and peace.

“For many people, trees are the first places they feel safe, a refuge from the world where they could climb up and watch what was going on below,” she says. “Trees have always had this very deep association with protection and safety and quiet.”

After her sister’s death, author Indira Naidoo found solace in nature.

Fr Don Richardson, dean of St Mary’s Cathedral, says peace can be found in the church, for those who seek it. Despite its popularity as a tourist destination, the cathedral in the heart of the city still regularly welcomes those who desire time for reflection.

“St Mary’s is a big place where you won’t be disturbed,” he says. “You can hide behind a column if you want. Outside mass times there is usually space to feel comfortable and we want people to feel welcome.”

Richardson says the church is a respite “in a world of over-stimulation”.

“The cathedral has that value for people to clear their mind and take a little sabbatical from the constant noise and bad news and give themselves space to sort out what really matters,” he says. “At a human level, everyone can benefit from finding that space and that time in the city where people intuitively go to those quiet places.”

Whether time spent in the cool and the quiet of a synagogue or temple is your thing, or you prefer to take refuge under tree canopies, Naidoo says giving yourself space to understand your significance in the wider world can provide a pathway to peace.

“So many of the challenges we find ourselves dealing with, we are not acknowledging that we are part of nature and not separate from it,” she says. “Over time we have put ourselves at the top [of the natural world]. Religion served a purpose to place us in a scale to put god above that, but in this very modern tech world we see ourselves as the gods, and that’s causing the problems. We are not wired that way.”

Foster says it’s through the search for peace that we better understand ourselves.

“We talk about being starved of connection to Country but what we’re really starved of is a meaningful connection to ourselves, and we don’t get that when there are so many distractions around us,” she says.

“Being in a church or the mangrove cathedral or walking through the bush is one of those times where we are stripped bare back to what we are intrinsically about, which is this life force that is moving in this physical plane. It is that real sense of stillness.”

Where can you find peace?

As-salamu alaykum, shalom, shanti, peace be with you. However you prefer to say it, the giving and receiving of peace goes back millennia. Here’s where to start to find it in a modern world.

Traditional environments. Churches, mosques, synagogues, temples. Outside services, places of worship are often open to casual visitors, whether they are members of the community or not, for quiet reflection. Often it’s a multisensory experience, so take the time to sit, listen and even take in the aromas, like incense. Service times are usually available on websites.
Natural environments. While trees are a common theme, Indira Naidoo says the key to a peaceful outdoor space is the ability to be still while observing gentle movement. “We like to be still but not the things around us, like the breeze through the trees or water lapping against a rock; they are immediately relaxing for us. Too much movement, though, and we get stressed.”
Secular spaces. Naidoo says when you tune into it you can find peace in unlikely settings. What such places have in common, though, is a sense of protection and stillness. “I was going to see a film recently and I went into the cinema early just to sit quietly in the dark,” she says. “I search out those places to get there earlier than the crowd, or stay after the show is over so I have [time in these] huge, cavernous dark spaces.”
Home. Create a space for peace in your own home to practise that connection daily. “We don’t have to make these big, clear gestures like climbing to the top of a mountain,” says Naidoo. “We can find these places by lighting a candle in the dark and sitting quietly.

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